Social Media’s ‘Unexpected Gifts’: A Poet’s Story
I tell people, the best way to learn about me is through my writing. ~ Maureen Doallas
For today’s guest post, I asked poet Maureen E. Doallas to share her story of the recent publication of her debut book of poetry. Enjoy!
I bought my first computer in 2000 but until I retired in 2007 and started an art-related business, Transformational Threads, I had a tiny virtual footprint, restricting my online activity to business-related activities, e-mails to family and friends, and following correspondent Leroy Siever’s daily narrative about his cancer experience at “My Cancer” (now, since Sievers’ death, “OurCancer”). There, I posted a lot, including new poetry I had begun writing after my late brother became ill. (I wrote an essay about the very real, if virtual, community that is shared there.)
Sometime in mid-2009, I joined FaceBook and LinkedIn. While browsing through search results for poetry groups, I came across Seedlings in Stone, one of poet L.L. Barkat’s blogs, where I found a link to Random Acts of Poetry (RAP).
Reading the contributors’ poems, I thought how fun it would be to participate, so I e-mailed L.L., managing editor for The High Calling, asking how I could join the group. Well, that required a blog or other online site from which to share and link.
So I created Writing Without Paper, which I decided to use as my hub to write about anything that brings me joy, especially art, artists, and poetry.
Later that same month, I joined Twitter, to take part in Twitter poetry jams, and began following group members’ blogs, tweeting my own posts, and generally reaching out to expand online connections among diverse communities of writers and artists who share my interests.
Some of my new friends created a dedicated place for all things poetry, TweetSpeakPoetry. That led in 2010 to L.L.’s founding of T.S. Poetry Press, publication of TSPP’s first books, and, serendipitously, an invitation to publish my own poetry.
Invitation to Publish
Because of job demands and family responsibilities following marriage, I had not submitted poetry anywhere since the early 1980s, and limited my creative writing to pieces for special occasions.
In 2010, having written a significant number of new poems (many about my experience of my brother’s cancer) and encouraged by responses to my writing (which led to writing features articles for others), I decided to step quietly back into the poetry submissions arena. I collected a few rejections before enjoying several acceptances at online sites Red Lion Sq. and Poets for Living Waters, and the charity anthology Oil and Water… And Other Things That Don’t Mix.
In the fall, much to my delighted surprise, I was invited by T.S. Poetry Press, which does not accept solicitations or queries, to publish a first collection of 50 to 80 poems.
Publishing the Collection
Accepting the invitation to publish, I made one request of the editor and publisher: that they select poems with an eye toward making this debut book the very best it could be.
Knowing the backgrounds of both the editor and publisher, I was confident my interests would be represented well.
The editor asked me to send him as many poems as were available. Though I held some back, I sent more than 150 poems, the majority written in the last two years and a small number from many more years ago that I had rewritten or otherwise revised. The large number of poems I was able to make available ensured that the editor would be able to organize and shape a coherent manuscript that also would show off a range of themes, use of language, and style and voice, as well as an arc-of-life experience.
In the interim, I wrote four essays (the press style is to include regional and life-experience essays in each book), prepared the acknowledgments page, and undertook to acquire endorsements.
In January 2011, the editor sent me his selection of my poems and his line-edited copy. I reviewed every edit he made and returned comments, in several instances suggesting additional or new changes for consideration. Once we were in agreement on all edits, the final manuscript was submitted to the publisher. I then worked exclusively with the publisher on technical aspects of the book, ranging from title and layout to cover art, from back-cover text to copyright page and other front matter, to corrections and final proofs. The manuscript was released to print at the end of January.
We accomplished everything via e-mail and Internet.
Post-Publishing Lessons
In some ways, I suppose, how I came to publish Neruda’s Memoirs: Poems is the equivalent of the old story of the would-be actress hanging out at Schwab’s drugstore, waiting to be discovered by Hollywood. The not insignificant difference is that I didn’t go in search of a book publisher, although I might say I was “found” via social networking media.
When I began blogging, I never planned or dreamed that by 2011 I’d find my name on the cover of a book of poetry of my own. What I did decide in creating my blog was to take a big step by sharing my poetry with people I did not know in a number of different online forums. What happened? Somebody took notice.
I used social media to reach out and it, in turn, bestowed unexpected gifts, not only friendship and community but also opportunity.
I have heard many stories of writers’ less-than-pleasant experiences with agents, editors, and publishers. I can state unequivocally that my experience with T.S. Poetry Press was deeply satisfying, and for one very important reason: trust. I put myself in the experienced hands of the editor and publisher, both of whom took my work seriously and followed through on every term agreed to at the start of the relationship.
Often, a verbal (as in virtual) say-so was sufficient. Similarly, I kept my word, responded promptly whenever questions arose or something needed to be done, and tried to learn from the experience by being open to editorial suggestions and changes. I didn’t resist line edits, because I saw how they made my poems stronger. I agreed to the choice of poems and book title and organization of the collection because I was confident that those with whom I was working knew best how to make me look my best. And — not an unimportant point — the press knew what its readers want. Each of us treated the other as a professional. A beautifully produced book is the result.
Key also is my understanding of what this opportunity to publish means and what it does not.
I did not accept the invitation to publish because I want to make a name for myself or think I can make money from my poetry or win poetry prizes. I accepted because what the publisher is about is what I’m about: finding, sharing, and celebrating art and beauty and community. Every day.
If even one person who reads the collection is moved by a single poem, then I have published for the best, and right, reason.
Neruda’s Memoirs: Poems is available in print and e-book editions via Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and other booksellers.
Follow Neruda’s Memoirs: Poems on Facebook. Follow Maureen on Twitter.
Watch the video presentation of the poem “Neruda’s Memoirs.”
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